Absci Begins Research Collaboration with Merck
Jan 7, 2022 By MarketDepth
Absci Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSI) entered into a research collaboration with Merck today, sending the company’s stock soaring over 48% during premarket trading.
Parternship Announcement
Via the partnership, Absci will deploy its Bionic Protein™ non-standard amino acid technology to produce enzymes tailored to Merck’s biomanufacturing applications. Subsequently, Merck has the option to nominate up to three targets as well as begin a drug discovery collaboration agreement.
“We are very pleased to establish this collaboration with Merck and to be working with its world class research organization to generate novel enzymes. We look forward to applying our AI-driven platform to create new biologic candidates with the potential to meaningfully improve the lives of patients.”
Sean McClain, founder and CEO of Absci
Absci will receive an upfront payment for the collaboration and will be eligible for certain other milestone payments. In addition, Absci could be eligible to receive up to $610 million in upfront fees and milestone payments should Merck take up the decision to begin a drug discovery collaboration.
“At Merck we are continually evaluating new ways to build, expand and refine our biologics capabilities. Absci’s platform offers a compelling opportunity to design new biologic candidates and explore the expression of complex proteins.”
Dr. Fiona Marshall, Senior Vice President and Head of Discovery, preclinical and translation medicine, Merck Research Laboratories
